The present invention relates to a data storage system. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved bearing design of a slider for supporting transducer elements for read and write operations for a data storage device.
Disc drives are well known which store digital information on discs. Transducer elements operate relative to the disc surface to read information from and write information to the disc surface. The transducer elements are typically supported via a slider which includes a bearing surface which is aligned relative to the disc surface. The slider is resiliently supported via a suspension assembly coupled to an actuator block for positioning the slider (and transducer elements supported thereby) relative to selected data tracks on the disc surface. The slider and transducer elements are aligned relative to discs which are supported via a spindle motor for rotational operation.
Rotation of the disc causes air to flow underneath the slider and interact with an air bearing surface to lift the slider to fly above the disc surface for load and unload operations. A preload force is supplied to the slider via the suspension assembly to counteract the hydrodynamic lifting force to provide an equilibrium lifting force based on the hydrodynamic properties of the slider and the speed of rotation of the disc to define the fly height of the slider.
During load and unload operations, the position of the slider is unstable until the hydrodynamic lifting force and load force of the load beam settle to an equilibrium position to define the fly height for the slider. During dynamic operation of the slider, various forces caused by vibration, shock, or turbulent air flow to the bearing may interfere with equilibrium conditions. It is desirable to provide enhanced system response to settle the slider to an equilibrium position for read and write operations. One method for enhancing system response is to provide an air bearing design with enhanced dampening and stiffness characteristics. Such designs might increase the manufacturing complexity of the slider, affecting tolerance control for the fly height dynamics of the slider.